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Reversing a 13-month upward trend, Indian exports in October declined year-on-year by 1.12 per cent to $23 billion due to a drop in shipments of textiles, pharmaceuticals, leather goods and gems and jewellery, according to official data released on Tuesday.

Exports in September had risen over 25 per cent to a six-month high of $28.61 billion.

Imports in October, however, grew by 7.6 per cent to $37.11 billion, from $34.5 billion in the same month last year, a Commerce Ministry release said.

Consequently, India's trade deficit widened to $14 billion during the month, as against $11.13 billion in October last year.

While petroleum exports in October grew by 14.74 per cent, engineering was up 11.77 per cent and chemicals exports rose 22.29 per cent.

Segment-wise, the data showed that India's oil imports during October shot up by 27.89 per cent to $9.29 billion, from $726 billion in the same month last year.

"The global Brent prices have increased by 19.42 per cent in October 2017 vis-a-vis October 2016 as per World Bank commodity price data," the statement said.

Non-oil imports during October at $27.83 billion grew by 2.19 per cent over non-oil imports of $27.23 billion in October last year.

Cumulative exports during April-October, however, increased by 9.62 per cent to $170.28 billion while imports grew by 22.21 per cent to $256.43 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $86.14 billion for the first seven months of the current fiscal.

As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on Tuesday, Indian services exports in September this year at $13.73 billion resulted in a positive trade balance on this account for the month ($5.28 billion).